Marimaru

Okay, they aren't the only people on the boards who should probably do this, but most forward in my mind at the moment: Crystal and Megan need to write books. And I will wait all night at the bookstore for them when they are going on sale the next day. I'm going to start with Megan's baby steps and figure out my one sexy feature that I like. I could probably find a problem with any part of my body if you asked me, but I will find one tonight that I like. And yes, I obviously have the self confidence of a gnat, and I do need to work on that as well. Any time I think I want to do/say something sexy for my boyfriend, right when I'm about to do it I back out because I just don't think it's going to go the way it was in my head (before I let my lack of self confidence screw up my mental picture, anyway). So, step one tonight; find something sexy about me, and then accentuate it somehow. I'll report back tomorrow on this

It's all about Water. WAY WAY too many things can make you retain water. Or lose a bunch of water really quick. Or whatever happens. I weight "225" What that really means is that on any given day, I weight somewhere between 225 and 228, but 225 is the lowest. I bounce around all over the place for a few weeks, and then start to bounce downward. I'll bounce to 224 one day, but I wont report the loss until I see it a few more times, and know it's "real". If you are struggling with hunger, then you do need a fill. Just be careful not to get too tight. And be sure that you are eating ENOUGH. If you aren't eating enough you are struggling with hunger because you really do need to eat. Carrie, I'm not sure what warning signs you are aware of, so I don't know what "other" ones to tell you. I know that for me, my full sign is not a 'new' feeling, it's an old feeling that I always had preband, but I was translating it wrong. It used to mean to me "Wow, this is good, I want more", and now it's "that was good, you're done now". So make sure you aren't just looking for a NEW sign, but listening to old ones as well.

Do you trust your PS at all? If he unfilled/filled you during surgery, maybe he could see how much is in there if he feels comfortable with it. Either way, I'd get the second opinion. If the second doc tells you that you look fine, great, you feel better (and maybe get a fill). If he says "wow, things don't look right" I'd march right back to your original band doctor with the new doctors report, tell him you don't appreciate being jerked around, you don't appreciate being lied to, and you don't appreciate that he's saying nasty things about you to your other doctors, and demand your medical records. Then, he can decide to give you your records and send you on your way, or make things right (if you want to let him). Doctors are not 'god like'. Being a doctor is their job and you are paying them to do it. If you don't like the service you are getting, pick up and get it somewhere else.

Wow, your mom has been through the wringer as of late. I hope that she (or someone helping her) makes that doctor responsible for his actions. I hope things calm down for both of you!

Different doctors seem to have different opinions on what causes slippage and erosion. As someone who has a doc that never said anything about alcohol causing problems, I do have beer every now and then. Some days, I'm too tight and the bubbles are uncomfortable, other days it works okay. It does fill you up, because after a certain amount of time not eating much, your stomach does shrink back to normal size, so a beer is going to fill you up for a while. liquid calories, blah blah blah, I try and avoid drinking on a regular basis, and keep it for special occasions, but yeah, I still drink beer and other things.

I don't have any problems with rice either, but I don't have it nearly as much as I used to. 3 bowls of rice as a meal is just one of my many pre band problems.

That's really great. I'm glad you are feeling better, and you are going to feel even better(er) after that! Sounds like your doc is on the ball and he set the nutritionist straight

Well, I think that Crystal hits the heart of it, but as far as baby steps go... At these things there's always the one tray of vegetables that no one touches... be the person who touches it! Also, give yourself some credit if you realize that you haven't had the amount of something you *could* have had. Positive re-enforcment is always good. I had 2 or 3 'servings' of chips while I was at a bbq this past weekend. 1. I was conscious of how much I was eating, 2. it was WAY less than I could have done, but I stopped eating when I didn't want anymore. I actually REALIZED I didn't want anymore, and then LISTENED to my body. 3. I stopped munching on them way before dinner, so I had a good bandster like meal. This thread is about you, not me, but I'm just saying that you should tally in your head the good things you do for yourself too, you know? And like Zoe said, provide healthy food for everyone, and you are bound to have some yourself (if you are the one throwing the shindig).

It's hard wanting to talk to your siblings about something and not being able to. I would go the route of trying not to bring it up again. If it comes up, you might say you changed your mind and have it done anyway, but then later you might have to have the conversation about why you lied, which is also hard. Hope it works out. Siblings can be the biggest pain.

She is SO CUTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love her pigtails!!

Well, now that it's in the correct location, and labelled, I think we're on the correct side of a thin line. I think Megan makes a really good point. The short of it is, I WANT to be sexy and I don't know how. It's cool to have people to talk about this with, but I can understand where it might get to the point were it's gone too far. If we set up a password protected area, the issue with that is that there's no age verification on the web, and all you can do is say "yes I'm 18", and the website thinks you are 18... so it is really better than just making sure you have a correct heading on the thread? lots of debates lately, but fortunately here they don't seem to turn into flame wars like on so many other forums (WLS related or not). We are a good group of respectful people

Those are great pictures! It looks like your boys get along really well I love to see siblings get along.

Sounds like it was a great time! And it's so cool to see all the generations there! I hope my mom can be a great gramma

That's awesome!!!

Happy Birthday!!!

How many calories are you eating? Keep in mind it takes 3500 calories to gain a pound of fat, so it's highly unlikely that when the scale goes up a little that you've actually gained fat. I weigh every day, and every day the scale says something different. If it's within 3 or 4 lbs of my lowest weight, I don't let it get to me. I do not lose every month. Then I'll lose 3 or 4 lbs altogether, and then I wont lose for another few weeks or so.

Dee, really really have more protien shakes. Drink milk even. Even more fruit juice. You need to get way more nutrition in to get to feelin' better. It WILL get better though. Always be sippin' something. Cheri, you should talk to your band doc. It's possible that he could take the strips off for you. Lots of people are alergic to those things. Get them off as soon as you can get your doctor to do it.

I posted this on the other thread that got deleted. I thought it was a great thing to have been done. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20050906/STORMSTRONACH06/TPInternational/TopStories I have not watched the news. I have not read the newspapers. Most of the details I 'know' about this situation are from this thread. I knew the hurricane hit, I knew it was horrible, and I knew people needed help. I simply (and selfishly) did not want to hear the rest. I still am not watching the news, and I still am not reading the newspapers. I just don't want to see that stuff. I tried to give blood yesterday, but my red blood cell count was one point lower than they will accept. They said to eat foods with iron in them and come back in 2 months. I'm going to try for one month and see what happens. In the meantime, I am getting together a box of everything I don't need in my house that might do someone some good. I'm going to see if anyone at my office wants to participate. That's really all I can do. But I've had some conversations with people, and I think that the little stuff helps. I think part of the problem is that people want to look at the big picture and see what will 'solve the problem' but that problem is just too big. You'll never get anywhere looking at it that way. Send people stuff, work on getting them homes, and getting them out of N.O., once the people are safe, then maybe start draining the water out of the city. Who knows what happens after that, but if people would look at it one step at a time, it doesn't seem so big, and it seems more do-able. Whatever happened, happened. We all want answers as to how or why, but at the same time, I think more importantly at this point, we need to scream and yell to make sure that it never happens again. "You've seen this now, USE IT to make sure that cities are prepared for stuff like this now." So that's my little ramble for the moment..

My mom went through a stint of dating guys she'd met on the web. Fortunately for me, she never banned me from the same. I was always good, meet in a public place, yadda yadda. That's how I met my current boyfriend of 3 years. I do need to get off my butt (or even out of the office) and make one of these get togethers tho.

Terri, Usually when an animal has a sudden behavior change, something is bothering them. It could be something as simple as a tooth ache. I would definitely take her to the vet and see what they say. Hope she feels better

I can eat one of those wraps. Oddly enough I have to eat it from the inside out, and I could probably due with just tossing the wrap part after I eat the insides, and sometimes I do, but sometimes I eat the whole thing. I usually get the turkey one, with veggies, and nofat honey mustard. It's about 300 calories altogether, so I don't beat myself up for it.

THAT is how you should be thinking. When I have a horrible day, I just try and think back to what it would have been preband. Not that it's not still "bad", but it could be WAY worse. Recently I've just had this horrible head hunger monster attacking me, so I bought some ready made bagged salads, and told myself I can have as much of that as I want. Even with some dressing. One does not have to feel guilty for eating two bowls of salad right? Of course, add on top of that, that my boyfriend bought the BIG bag of M&M's to keep in the fridge. Fortunately I kept to about a serving at a time... but that's not to say I didn't have more than one serving in a day. Fortunately they are all gone. I do okay when he buys the little bags, but the store he went to didn't have the little bags, so he got the big one. (And to top it all off, he's a bean pole). Fortunately, he's good to me and keeps his ice cream out of the house for the most part.

The liquid diet part is temporary. The rest of it isn't so bad. Just keep in mind the REASONS for the liquid diet. It's not about losing wieght, and it's not about torture. It's about HEALING. The liquid diet is so that your stomach doesn't have to work and move and churn, so that the stitches holding the band in place can heal. Keep THAT in mind, and I think the liquid diet is easier.

Warm wishes to you and your mom from here too. I can't say I've been through it, but I also think the waiting would just be the worst. Keep us posted.

Going down (or even staying the same) is always better than going up. That's what gets me through the slow/stuckness. I've lost 10 lbs since the last time I posted on this thread in March. I would very much like to be able to report more, but that I can report anything is a blessing. And to think when I got this surgery I thought I'd be done in a year. Don't even ask me what I may have been smokin' at the time, lol. I guess the moral of the story is, don't set your sights too high, because karma will bite you in the butt! Knowing what I know now, I'd still do this all over again. Even with the same loss rate. I honestly think that losing slower has been better for me. I have to be more accountable for what I put in my mouth, and my head has had extra time to wrap itself around the new body. I can actually SEE the difference in the mirror now, where I couldn't a few months ago. That took some time for sure.